Automatic -car-coupling



(N0 Model.) 2 Sheets-Sh0et 1. v H. WHITE. v I j 7 AUTOMATIC GAR COUPLING. 0 0

No. 500,309. Patented June 27, 1893 TIYIIII (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

H. WHITE.

' v AUTOMATIC GAR GOIIPLING,v N0. 500,300. Pa,tented June 27,1893.

. H B -L? an .J

' lvwc'nlv To all whom it of freight. cars.

UNITED STATES".

PAETE'NT" OFFICE.

HENRY WHITE, OF CHICAGOJ,..ILLI'NOIIS.

AUTOMATIC: cAa couPuNe.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent no; ,309, dated grime 27, 1893. Application filed oat-hertz, 1892. Serial No. 449,730. km model.)

may concern: Be it known that I, HEN-RY WHITE. a citizen of the United States, residing'at Chicago,

county of Cook, and State of'Illinois, have i'n,-. vented a new and useful improvement for coupling and detaching device of which the following is a specification.

My. invention relates to improvements in automatic car couple'rs'for freight cars, and

railway-cars, also a an automatic device to separate the same.

'Theobject of myimprovement'is to remove the danger to life and limb'in the coupling cars with platforms '[fromoperated] with certain i m-' provelnents theretoin setti'ng and supporting the same and thereby adapting it for use on freight cars; second, toafford facilities inde-' tachi-ng the coupler hook when the cars are to be separated and which is to be operated from the top of car, and may also be operated third,a device to preventv the separationiofhthe couplerhook but which is tobe used only when. the cars arein the course of transportation, and,'fourth,-a device to. depressor to elevatethe couplerhookto adapt it 'to-carso'f I attain the'obje'cts by the'mechanism'illusback of the draw bar. A. forv th unequal altitude.-

trated in the accompanying drawings. in -which' coupler hook Figure 1 is an uncovered view of a metal 11c, rarne B. B.

A. A. is to be placed and secured. Fig. 2. is an uncovered viewof an automatic-ratchet R. by which the coupler hook is to be drawn back when the cars are 3. is a front end view of *6is an illustration of the coupler hook and out the several views.

-draw bar now in'use showing the manner of attaching the'same to the frame of car.- Similar letters refer to similar parts through- The timbers DD. and timbers D. D.

to be firmly secured to the under side of car to securelylock the same when in use, for strength.

To that end I propose first to use a draw bar and coupler hook n ow'in.'

said trunnion through the clamp C, the shank .the' pring E into which the draw bar'and' important and preferable pieces I). and b.

bev adj ustcd therein.

.jthe clamp O. of I to the timbers are frame and to constitute the-support and protection:of'the-frameB. B. I v The metallic frame B. is to be-con'structed as follows: The side pieces I). and b. and the end piece b to be six inches indepthand of such form and'th'ickness as may be required j Theside piece I). will bestraight throughout its length and the side piece I). to

be parallel thereto to a point about four'inchesin front of the crossbar b and from thence'to the front end to flare outwardly. four inches or more to make room to pull back the coupler hook, the frontend of said' frame B. B.-to

be open,and thesides hand blo be secured in position by the clamp (land the ends .thereof secu red thereto; the crossbar b .'to'

have an oval aperture in 'the center thereof and to have trunnion pins ti. on each end The draw bariand'coupler hook "A. A. will be placed in the frame B. B. to-bepassed pins to work in metallicjour-' nal boxes, said journal boxes to be set in the. sides of the timbers D. D; I

A of thedraw barto pass through the oval aperture in-the" cross bar b and through the spiral spring E also through the end piece b and'to have the nut g; threaded on said shank A bywhich may be adjusted. I v

T e spiral spring E. s to be placed at the e purpose of holding and controlling the operation of said draw bar incoupling and uncoupling of the cars, the strength and elasticity of said spring (A spiral- 13.10 be adjusted to that'pu-rpose. I I spring is adopted here because the strength can be accurately measured.) The spiral spring E.

for the purpose of holding the draw-bar A. parallel to the frame B. B. but to be of'such Y strength as -to resist pressure except from and is considered heavy surging of thecar's, to a-solidv rest for that purpose, the sockets S; and S. inthe side of the fra'meB.- B. to be circular in form and the springs E; and E. to

placed on the end of car to supportvand protect the apparatus.

is to be set opposite the spring E.-

The timber G. is to be i The stirrup T. will be placed-underneath I the frame. B. B. and secured D. D. and the spiral springT'.

i set on the said stirrup T. and secured there-' to, the strength and elasticity of the spring. T-. to be adjusted to support the front end weight of the frame'B. B. and alsoof thecoup-.

lerhook and draw bar A. At, that the said frame and coupler hook in'ay'oscillate'th'ereon whenthe cars are in motion Cars furnished with this device willcouple automatically by momentum.

' operatiouthe rat'chetIJEt. is arranged at; fol-jv loi'vslseeFig. 2.); Thewheel F. is: to ihave ratchet teeth on three fourths of thepelri'ph .ery thereof and the remaining quadrant F.

To uncouple the'cars withoutd'anger to be plain, but to be enlarged ahalf inhh on the radius, the pawl d. to be constructed with an elbow-d. on the front end,-said pawl d.'to

be set at a right angle to the end of cargand to impinge on the ratchet at the junction of the quadrant F. at 'i, the elbow d; to be about five inches long and have a lip ff'on thc'endto be raised one inch or more in height, the

bar e. to be in form as shown on thedrawings" and set to oscillate over the ratchet wheel F. F. and elbowdfl, the bar e. to be pivoted at or near the :center thereof, the studs 1'; and 13.16 beset in the ratchet wheel F. F and adjusted to movetheoscill'atiug bar e. t and fro. The studs zgz. are to prevent the-oscillating bar e..-froni being displaced. or. moved i too far eitherway- The-above parts 'willbe placed in a metallic case-C.', and placed under the corner of carand firmly secured .-thereto and of necessity at the back; of; the

coupler hook A,.the shaft H..to pass downj through the floorof-the case and the hub Nsandth'e hand-wheel N secured thereto,

the hub N. to be six inches or more in diame ter and from N. the hub tobecu't downspirally about two inches in one circumference .and the chain 3'. atta'ched'to the rim of the hub N. at' N. the-drum- N to-be two or more inches in diameter asmay be required; the

. chain j. to be connected to the link j. said link to be six inches or'morein length in theclear', the rod j?. to be attached to the coupler head A. at a; by the loop j. and to the link by a screw and nutby which the tension of the combined chain may be adjusted, the rod 3' and 'a'socket made tofit thereon, but to be to'bemade to slide in the link j. in order that when the coupler head is pushed in the act of coupling, the rod j will slide into said link and thus avoid displacing the chain from the hub N. 'The link j, will" be held in.

place by the spiral spring 0 0. attached thereto and- 'secured' to the guard timber G. by the rod 0'. and also secured to the ase'O. thespring o 0. permitting. the link j. tomove back when uncoupling the cars; 'Thefshaft" .H. is to extend up through the guard timber G. about eight inches and coupled to the shaft 11 said shaft H. to extend up. to and about two feet above the'roof'of car and have the hand wheel H secured thereto, the coup ling H to be-inade with a square taper shank,

constructed to rest on theheadof the shank so that it may be readily lifted off or bereadily separated-in case of-an accident.

To operate the ratchet R. thelrand wheel lliphas to be moved round three fourths of a circle when it is "stopped by theaction of the quadrant F on'the pawl d. and will then have opened the-coupler and separated the cars. When the hand wheelhas been moved to the point named the pawld. and the elbow. (1'. will be raised outyof the ratchet by the'quadrant- F'sand the oscillatingbar' er, moved by the stud 'i. (ars -shown by the dotted lines) and the end 1" "moved 'under' the lip. fiby'which the;

pawld will thus be held suspended out of the ;ratchet F. until the; ratchet wheel by the action of the spring E on the coupler hook and draw harA. A. will revolve back and by the back action the stud twill strike and 'force'the bar' e. from under the lip f. when the pawl d; will by the action of the s ring P. be forced again into gear withthe r'a chet- F. and be automatically again ready for use.. It

may be necessary at times to hold'the coupler open. Thiscan'be done by holding the .ratchetback one or more notches in the ratchet when-the coupler-will remain open at the will of the operator. In order that the coupler may be depressed or elevated as may be, required for the pur-- poseof couplingwith carsot' a higher or lower altitude the spiral spring as. is provided for --that purpose, said spring to. to beset in'the guard timber G.'and pl'aced'over the coupler-- hook-A. and made to-rest thereon,-the stem m,

to be secured inthetop end of thespring w. and extend up through the guard timber'G.

and'be connected to the lever U, the lever- U .to have 'itsf'ulcrum at 00 and made to pass over and be. connected -to the stem 00', the

othen'endof the lever U to extend to the screwy. and be forked and made to span the shank of the screw y. between'thecollars -80.- thus per'mitting the; said screw 1 to turn' form a stop over the coupler book A. andis atjall' t-imesto be kept under pressure for that purpose, the strength-of said spring as. to be adjusted to yield only moderately to the heavy surging of the cars.

.' 'To-prevent the coupling" hook from separating during transportation by the springing and surging of the cars when-in motion the lstaple in. is to be 'set in the face of coupler hook A.'in a position to mesh into thegroove m'. in the coupler head A. and adjusted-to come in line with the pin holes a into which the coupling pin L. will be inserted from underneath up and through the pin holes a. in the coupler head A. and through the staple m. and to thus prevent the separation of the couplers.

" to extend to the side of carand the vertical movements of the top end of the rod L To operate the coupling pin L. the rod L will be placed to the left of the coupler hook A. but as near thereto as practical and the arm L. secured to the lower end thereof and also to the lower end of coupling-pin L, said arm L. to be placed underneath the coupler hook A. and as near thereto as will permit of said coupler hook A., the rod L to pass up and through the spiral spring to. and .madeto reciprocate therein, the lever P. to be attached to and secured to at h, the fulcrum of lever P. pivoted to the car at h, the lever P. adjusted to be operated from the ground, the rod L to be attached to the lever P. at b and extend up to and about twenty inches above'the roof of car and the arm L. secured to the top end.

a The spring latch K is to be secured to the roof timber G. are indicated as the coupling pin L.

. K. is to have one inch of car and adjusted to catch the arm L when said arm is pressed down (as shown by the dotted-lines) and made to hold the same-so that it can be released only from the top of ear, the latch K. to be actuated by the spiral spring is, the strength of the spiral spring w to be adjusted to carryiahe weight of the sevbut of such elasticity and draw bar A. A. The lip is. of the latch or more recess, and to be square angled and to hook over the arm L when said arm is pressed down and made so as to hold the same securely from the percussive shaking caused by the movements of the cars. This arrangement is considered important and a most safe and convenient method of holding this device out of gear when not required for use. The coupling pin L. is to be kept in position by the guard L Shown in dotted lines, (see Fig. 1.

r. 1-. in dotted lines on the face of the guard seats for buffers, but no device for buffers is here presented as there are a' number in use which will answer for the purpose.

' elbow d., the oscillating I am aware that prior to my invention an tomatic car couplershave been made with draw bars similar to that herein shown and adjusted to be operated wit-h springs as illustrated in Fig. 6, but such draw bars are atfixed rigidly to the frame of car, and have no vertical play independent of the motion of the car,.an d they are not adapted to freight cars. I therefore denot claim such a combination broadly; but I What I do claim as myinvention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination in an automatic car couplerot' an oscillating frame 3. B. having reciprocal motion andelastic supports with a draw bar and coupler hook as A. A. adjusted to work' therein, all substantially as set forth and for the purpose specified. 4

2. In the automatic ratchet R. the combination of the wheel F. F'., the pawl d. having bar e, the studs '5. and t the hub N, and the adjustable chain, connecting the ratchet R. to the coupler head A all substantially as set forth and described.

3. The combination in an automatic car coupler of the coupling pin L. staple m. and the reciprocating rod Lt, having arm L all substantially as set forth, and for the purpose specified.

4. In an automatic car coupler and detacher the combination'of the spring so and stem at. the lever U, the screw g and the shaft y su'bstan'tially as set forth.

5. The combination in a car coupler and detaoher of the oscillating frame B.- B. carrying the coupler hook and drawbar A. A. the ratchet R. secured to the said coupler hook, and having automatic action, the spring :11, adapted to the said coupler hook, and the coupling pin L. and-staple m. all substantially as set forth and for the purposes specified.

. HENRY WHITE.

YVitnesses:

JOHN F. MCCANN, P. H. FELLOWS. 

